Cake Decorating Art

Sometimes it is a lot of fun to apply my skills to something new and different. In this case, cake decorating! I had the chance throughout the previous year or two to try my hand at making fondant figures and cake designs for a few family events.

The first, was a set of fondant cats and a fondant house to go on two groom's cakes, for my cousin's wedding reception. The cats were really fun, I got pictures of my cousin's cats and matched the markings to look like them. Working with fondant was very similar to working with clay. The only real noticeable differences was that I had to use an Exacto blade to cut detailed shapes, use tooth picks to help support the legs and head while they dried, and I used water to attach pieces together (instead of pinching or pressing them together). The water is just put on lightly with a paintbrush and it acts like glue.

Here are a few pics of the cats before and after they were placed on their cake. (My Mom did a fantastic job baking and frosting the spice cake itself. It turned out great!)

The other groom's cake depicted my cousin's house at Christmas with 'Marry Me' spelled out in lights on the roof. This was how my cousin proposed to his fiancee, so we recreated it for their cake. My Aunt and I teamed up on this one together. We both got the textures and main shapes cut and attached. I helped add in little details like transparency paper over the yellow windows to make them look more like glass and the wreath on the door. My Aunt wrote the 'Marry Me' with icing after attaching the house to the cake. She also baked and frosted the house cake. (Her chocolate cake is delicious!)

The next cake I got to work on was for a party following the 2013 Monument Avenue 10K Marathon. A lot of friends and family participated for the Amanda C. Brady Foundation for Youth. This Foundation was started in memory of my brother's fiancee. You can check them out at amandabradyfoundation.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/amandabradyfoundation?ref=profile. All the runners wore baby blue or pink T-shirts with the Foundation logo on it to show their support. After the Marathon, everyone met up for a party to celebrate. I made the Foundation logo out of fondant for the cake. (My Mom baked and frosted the cake itself, she is a pro!) This one was really challenging because of the thick and thin lines of the logo and the general shape. At first, I tried to get a template of the logo and cut/trace the fondant with an Exacto blade. This didn't work too well, the parts of the logo began loosing their shapes and breaking in thinner areas. So I scrapped that approach, and decided to cut strips of fondant and use them to layout the logo. This method worked like a charm! I let the logo dry and harden overnight and then I transferred it to the cake.The Foundation is participating in the Marathon again this year, please support them! They accept donations and pledges to run on their website, donations go toward scholarships and other activities related to the Foundation.

The last cake I worked on, was for a birthday. I made a Tiki Hut design on a beach with waves coming in. This one was really challenging because it was all icing work. I experimented with different tips on the decorating bags to get different shapes and textures. My favorite was the tip I used to get the wood texture on the hut. In some ways icing is a forgiving medium, if I made a mistake all I had to do was get a toothpick or knife to remove the flaw and begin on it again. I added in some cinnamon and sugar to make the sand under the Hut. It was a lot of fun to go in and add little details like the swings, crab under the Hut, glasses on the table, and flowers here and there. Really fun Summer B-Day cake!

That is it for now. If I wind up making some more cool looking cakes this year I will post some pics of them. Food art is fun!

Creative Christmas Wrapping

Finally back for another update! This one is something I have been meaning to post since Christmas. (Excuse the picture quality- I had to use my cell phone, my camera was dead)

Penguin, Reindeer, & Polar Bear Presents (Better quality, individual pics below)

 Here is the story: My parents and I decided to give money cards to my teenage nieces and nephew. We also wanted them to have a little something to open and be able to use on Christmas Day. Skittles is a old favorite of theirs, so they each got a bag. While I was wrapping, I thought it would be cooler to make it more interesting, instead of just sticking the Skittles in a box or gift bag. I had seen some pictures on Facebook of how people had wrapped presents to disguise what they were. Most used cardboard to build newly shaped boxes for presents, but I didn't have the materials or that kind of time (I was wrapping these late on Christmas Eve - Procrastinator!!)

I started to try to manipulate the bag itself, to see what would happen. I noticed that I could get a shape kind of like a body, really more like a beanie baby. Rubber bands were the best way to help them keep their shape. Once they were tied up, they were really sturdy. Here is what they looked like at this point:

Step 1: Make the body shape and bind with rubber bands

Next, I needed to add some heads to the bear and reindeer bodies. (The penguin didn't need anything extra, I just shaped his head and neck with the rubber bands.) I made the head forms by balling up scrap wrapping paper and using artist tape to bind it together and attach it to the body.

Step 2: Add head to Reindeer Body

Step 2  Cont.: Add head to Bear Body

The last steps were to wrap the bags with wrapping paper and add in little details. Wrapping was just trial and error until I got them all covered properly. I drew in eyes, noses, and mouths with a sharpie marker. Next, I cut and folded wrapping paper to make the ears and tails on the reindeer and bear, and the wings and beak of the penguin. I cut long strips of wrapping paper for scarves and reins for the reindeer. To make the antlers for the reindeer, I used a scrap wrapping paper tube and cut out the antler shapes. These were nice and sturdy, since this was a heavier paper and the curl of the tube made the antlers curve as well. This was a nice effect. The antlers were taped on. Here are the final pieces!

Penguin

Reindeer

Polar Bear

 The kids really seemed to love them.  They liked them so much they didn't want to unwrap them right away. They did take a stab at guessing what they were, and got it right pretty quick!

Fun wrapping experiment! I may try this again at some point, there is a lot of problem solving involved and it keeps things interesting!

Photoshop Lesson Update on Art Ed Blog

I just added one of my Photoshop lessons on my Art Ed. blog at http://kellynixonarted.blogspot.com/. 

Bear-Frog Animal Hybrid: Demo Model

This lesson was to make an animal hybrid by using photo-manipulation. It was aimed at Art I students, check it out for more details. 

You may recognize the Bear-Frog image featured for the lesson from my art portfolio pages. I had originally made him as a demo model for this lesson and liked him so much I kept him as an art portfolio piece : ). 

Enjoy!

More artwork and lessons coming soon!

Art Education Blog Launched!

I have launched a new blog dedicated to my love of Art Education at http://kellynixonarted.blogspot.com/. I will be adding more content over the next few days as a go through my art lessons, check back soon for more updates! I have also added links to my other websites to the right. Check them out!

Live the Lifestyle Logo Design

Here is a new logo design I made for the Live the Lifestyle: Weight Management program. This logo was a fun one to do. Most of the challenge was in figuring out the best way to transition the colors from green to blue, spacing in general, and other little design elements. I did get to play a bit more with the gradient tool in Adobe Illustrator. For the concept, the client wanted to use a tree design and incorporate measuring tape into the design. She also wanted to make the 'L' from Lifestyle merge with the tree.Color-wise we tried some variations and decided that green and blue best reflected the healthy and calm feel that the client was going for. I am very pleased with how it turned out. Keep your eye out for the logo, it has been on Facebook quite a bit!

Live the Lifestyle Logo Design

**This logo is copyrighted to the client who commissioned it, do not use without permission!**

More Queen City Sports and Social Club Designs

Time for some updates!

Here are a few new logo designs I have been working on for Queen City Sports and Social Club in Charlotte, NC. These are some different logo design samples intended to be used for Cornhole and Volleyball T-shirts this year. I combined each sport into 1 file each to make them easier to check out. Each image is a possible T-shirt logo, so there are 7 possibilities for Cornhole and 4 for Volleyball.

Cornhole T-shirt Design Samples

Multiple sports allows for multiple logos!  Here are a few designs for the Beach Volleyball T-shirts.

Beach Volleyball T-shirt Design Samples

**As always, all logos are copyrighted to the client who commissioned them, do not use without permission

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Logo Design Work

Design work updates:

Here are some of the logo designs I have been working on lately. They were all sketched by hand and later developed in Adobe Illustrator. This program is the best for logo designs since you can re-size the images without them getting blurry.

*All logos are copyrighted to the clients who commissioned them from me, do NOT use them with out permission*

This is a design for Queen City Sports and Social Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Here I was representing both the city and the activities of the club. This club meets to play team sports like kickball and football, as well as meeting socially to have a drink or two. The logo has a few versions for different sports and uses. The ball that the mascot holds is different for each sport. Fun and challenging logo to work on.

Full Logo in Black and White

Mascot for Queen City Sports and Social Club in Color

 

 

Mascot for Queen City Sports and Social Club- Kicking Version

This next one is a logo design for the company RDM: Preservation and Revitalization. This design is for a local business in Richmond, Virginia that buys and restores various buildings. I really wanted to incorporate negative space into the design and I used it to create the white building in the center of the logo. Notice how the white building is created only with the edges of the other shapes around it. The colors of the logo are a reference to the positive energy of the company bringing buildings back to life and their push to 'go green' in their operations.

RDM logo design

The next logo was made for a local company called Karnes Heating and Air Conditioning which is based out of the Richmond, Virginia area. The concept was to incorporate/combine the client's love of river sunsets, relaxation, and the heating and air theme. This was done with a stylized sunset and water line to illustrate a sunset. The warm and cool colors and wavy breaks in the sun are a nod to heating and air. 

Visit this company on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/KarnesHeatingAndAirConditioning

Karnes Heating and Air Conditioning Logo

Here is a logo design for ABNIX: Delivery and Moving. This logo was designed for a local moving company in Richmond, Virginia before its start-up. The 'A' letter behind the business name was designed to look like an angel, to reference the loved one the company was named after.

ABNIX: Delivery and Moving Logo Design

*All logos are copyrighted to the clients who commissioned them from me, do NOT use them with out permission*

That is all for now more updates to come soon. Happy holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!